


Into The Abyss

by DawnTheVamp



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: (More added if I feel I need more tags), Gen, Leo-centric - Freeform, Violence in Later Chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-05-12 04:57:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5653249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnTheVamp/pseuds/DawnTheVamp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based during the events of Follow The Leader (s2 e03). When Raph saw Leo fall, they thought he was gone, captured by the Foot. Yet on their way to Karai, the last thing the three turtles expected to run into was their eldest brother. Although things aren’t always what they seem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When Darkness Forms

**Author's Note:**

> So I got this idea from an amazing YouTube video by Ana Liz (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHTVexJNebE) seriously, it’s so awesomely edited. Anyway it got me thinking and eventually I was able to turn that video into the plans for this fanfic. All credit for the plot goes to Ana, I simply took her video and made it into a story. Anyway, enjoy this first chapter!

“This way!” Satisfied that his brothers were actually listening to him for once, Leo started his climb up the nearest wire in the elevator shaft. Soon enough, he could hear his brothers following him up.

“Go, go, go!” Donnie’s shout behind him made Leo glance down quickly, seeing the amount of Foot soldiers swarm the elevator shaft. The temptation to leap down and start slicing them to pieces with his one remaining katana was almost overwhelming, but after that fight it didn’t seem like the best idea in the world.

They had made it about halfway up the shaft before Mikey screamed. “Ah! Get off of me, you bug-eyed creep!” When Leo looked down at Mikey, he saw his brother holding onto a wire with one hand as a Foot soldier clung to his leg. Without a second thought, Leo let go of his wire and pushed off the wall, managing a backflip before his feet slammed into the Foot soldier’s head and releasing its hold on Mikey’s leg. When Leo managed to grab onto a wire again to halt his falling body, he realised he’d fallen most of the way with Foot soldiers close below him.

As Leo started his climb again, he looked up to see his three brothers had stopped, staring down at him or something below him. “Those guys are robots?” Donnie said.

“Move your shell, Donnie!” Leo yelled up at him, painfully aware of how quickly the Foot, what where they? Bots? Where gaining on them. He was constantly moving his gaze between his brothers and the Foot Bots and his relief was hard to contain when he saw Raph reach the top. Raph had quickly turned to pull Donnie up, then reached for Mikey.

As Leo watched this, he felt something close around his ankle, almost yanking him from the wire. A Foot Bot now clung to him, much like it had done to Mikey. Kicking at its head, Leo glanced up at Raph. His immediate younger brother was holding out his hand to him, ready to pull him out.

More and more Foot Bots where now surrounding Leo, trying to drag him down. He stretched out his arm towards Raph, straining against the weight of the Foot Bots now holding onto his shell. However, that’s when he seemed to see everything for the first time. _Raph can lean out further than that, he did so to pull Mikey out. Why isn’t he trying to get these bots off me? Where are Mikey and Donnie?... Don’t they… Don’t they care about me?_ Leo had pulled back his hand without even realising it, just watching Raph’s face yet not registering anything that his younger brother was saying or doing. They didn’t need him, didn’t want him. Raph was just willing to let the Foot take him, yet he’d put up an act of trying to save him… His brothers didn’t care…

When the wire snapped, Leo barely felt anything. He just kept watching Raph as he fell.

Down.

And down.

And _down…_

* * *

 

Raph wasn’t entirely sure of what was going through Leo’s head when he pulled his hand back, making it impossible for Raph to reach him. It wasn’t that he’d been forced to, Raph could see right now that his arm was still free. Raph continued trying to reach his brother, until he heard the sound of snapping and the wire Leo was holding onto went slack. 

“Leo!” For the second time that day, the first being while they were facing off against the Foot Bots, Raph felt completely useless as he watched Leo plunge down the elevator shaft along with the Foot Bots. It wasn’t every day that you wondered how someone would feel as they fell, knowing they were now in the hands of their enemy but the expression on Leo’s face was not what Raph had expected. He’d have expected shock, maybe even fear, but he saw neither of those. Instead he saw confusion, hatred… Betrayal…

Raph slowly backed away once he’d lost sight of Leo, looking over at Mikey and Donnie. “He’s gone… And it’s all my fault…”

Once back in the lair, Raph sat with Spike on his lap, slowly tracing the patterns in the smaller turtle’s shell. Donnie paced back and forth behind Mikey, who wasn’t joking around about anything for once.

“We didn’t follow his lead…” Donnie said after a long silence besides the sound of his footsteps.

Mikey sighed. “How are we gonna explain this to Master Splinter?”

“Explain what to me, Michelangelo?” Splinter just seemed to appear in the room, although it wasn’t like that was uncommon.

Swallowing back the lump in his throat, Raph looked up at their sensei and father. “It’s Leo, sensei. Karai… Captured him…”

Splinter bowed his head. “Hmm… I knew it would come to this eventually.”

“Come to what, sensei?” Donnie finally stopped pacing as the three of them looked at Splinter in curiosity.

“Karai wants to take revenge. She believes that I took one of her loved ones away from her.” The whole time, Splinter kept his gaze on the ground.

Mikey sat up slightly straighter and even though Raph was behind Mikey and couldn’t see his face, he knew Mikey was nervous. “But it’s not true, right?” Mikey asked.

Splinter only sighed, finally looking at the three of them. “It is very much… The opposite of what she thinks.” He then raised his voice slightly. “Find Leonardo. That is what is important right now. Rescue your brother.”

“Already on it, sensei.” Donnie said as he turned towards his lab. Glancing at each other, Raph and Mikey both followed.

Once the two entered the lab, their brainy brother was already typing away on his computer. A few seconds later, he called them over. “Okay, so I hacked into some security footage…”

 “That fast?” Raph muttered. “Why can’t you be that fast when we’re trying to hack into Kraang stuff?”

Donnie rolled his eyes. “Just look.” He played one of the videos and pointed to a white van on screen that took a corner a little too fast to be just a normal driver. “It’s Karai’s van.”

“They took Leo to the Bradford Dojo!” Mikey pointed out.

Raph nodded, “Let’s do this.”

“Wait so you’re leader now?” Mikey asked, clearing annoyed at that idea.

“Woah, woah, woah. Hold up.” Donnie interrupted. “I’m the smartest so-“

Raph stepped back from the two of them. “Look, let’s not argue about this. Leo needs us and listen, this time we fight the way Leo wanted us to fight. The way he fights.” 

* * *

Leonardo woke up to one hell of a headache.

The next thing he noticed was how cramped his muscles were. He’d been shoved into a very small cage, honestly he wouldn’t be surprised if it was for some kind of bird. The final thing he noticed was Karai, watching him as she spun a tanto in her hand. “You know I bet I’d make a fortune if I sold you to a science lab. Could you imagine the press?” She smirked as she turned her back to him, which made Leo question if she was talking to him or herself. “’Talking ninja turtle found in sewer’.”

Leo sighed. “Great… Betrayed, captured and now totally humiliated… Awesome day Leo, awesome day…”

Karai now turned to him, her smirk replaced by a glare as she pointed her tanto at him. “You’re getting everything you deserve Leo, after you betrayed me last time.” A snap of her fingers and Foot Bots appeared. _Great… Just what I need…_

“Don’t you love it? My new Foot Bots follow my orders to a T.” Karai never got to finish what would probably be another taunting speech as Leo decided he’d had enough.

“Karai, get to the point. Why bother keeping me like this? Unless you want to talk me to death?” Leo snapped, fidgeting in the small cage.

Karai paused as she watched him for a few moments, then suddenly threw her tanto towards his cage. The small knife cut through the rope at the top and the cage hit the floor with enough force to throw Leo out and onto his plastron. When he looked up, his katanas were thrown in front of him. “Foot Bots, deshell him…” 

This was going to be fun…

Leo got to his feet as he grabbed a katana in each hand, barely managing to turn to block another katana that had been aimed for his back. Another weapon came at him from his left, so fast he couldn’t see what it was. Just as he’d sliced through that Foot Bot, more took its place from more angles, more weapons being aimed at him. Once managed to duck past his defences and land a roundhouse kick to his plastron, while another knocked a katana out of his grip, managing to snap the blade in the process. It was after a few moments of this that Leo spotted a pattern.

Every time he landed a successful hit on a Bot, it would pause momentarily (if it was still functional) and its eyes would glow red as it processed the move, learning it. He could destroy them in that moment if he timed it right. Every time he saw glowing red eyes, he’d switch targets to that Bot. Either the Bots couldn’t see his method, or they just weren’t capable of learning it, but either way they weren’t able to defend themselves.

As the last few Bots fell, Leo was left facing off a very surprised Karai. “How… How did you beat them? They were meant to be invincible!” 

“Don’t take everything for granted, Karai.” Leo said as he sheathed his one remaining katana. “I suggest you leave Karai, quickly.”

Karai looked like she was considering fighting them, then she sent him a quick glare before turning and walking out the door. Of course Leo could have just finished her there and then, but he remained where he was until the door shut behind her. With her gone, he then turned to the disabled Foot Bots. “Now I guess I’ll just help myself to some of their stuff, seeing as they broke my katana, twice.” 

* * *

 

The three took their normal route along the rooftops, forming whatever they could of a plan as they went. “Security is going to be high, they’ll be expecting us.” Donnie pointed out.

“We could just ninja smoke bomb our way in, grab Leo and smoke bomb our way out again. Simple!” Mikey said the last part as they leapt across a gap between buildings, pulling a small pose before he landed.

“And did you bring any smoke bombs with you?” Donnie asked, showing that both he and Raph didn’t bring any with them.

Mikey quickly checked his belts. “Uhh… No. I gave the last few I had to Leo…”

“Well ain’t that just great…” Raph muttered. “So not only are we going in without much of a plan, but we’re going in without a decent way out too, that’s just- Leo?” He came to a sudden stop, causing Mikey to run straight into his shell.

“Dude! Warning next time. What’s with the sudden stop?” Mikey peered around his older brother until he could see what had made Raph stop. Running away from the Bradford Dojo was a figure that all three of them could easily recognise as Leo, the large shell kind of giving it away. “He escaped on his own?”

“That’s fearless for you.” Without hesitation, Raph took off running after Leo with Mikey and Donnie close behind him.

Donnie soon moved alongside him. “Raph, this doesn’t seem right… Leo isn’t heading back to the lair, or towards April’s. We might want to be careful.”

“Oh loosen up D!” Mikey said as he bounced alongside them. “I bet Leo’s just making sure no Foot are following him. He’ll head down into the sewers or something soon.” Even as the words left Mikey’s mouth, Leo dropped down from the roof tops and into an alley. “See?”

The alley had no fire escape to climb down, so the three were forced to jump down onto an old mattress. As they now stood in the middle of the alley, they found no sign of their older brother. “Guys, somethings up…” Donnie whispered. “This alley doesn’t have a manhole. Why would Leo come here if there was no way into the sewers?”

“That’s a good question Donatello. Can you work it out?”

The voice that had spoken was so familiar yet using a tone so foreign that it sent shivers up Raph’s spine. As one, they all spun to face the entrance to the alley, which now turned out to be the only way in and out. Leaning against the wall was the familiar figure of Leo, arms crossed over his plastron and his legs crossed over each other as he watched them from the corner of his eye.

“Leo! Dude, you scared us! We thought you were the Foot or something!” Mikey seemed relieved, but Raph could see the uneasiness in his youngest brother’s eyes. If he had to be honest, Leo’s actions had him on edge too. Something was definitely wrong.

“The Foot?” Leo chuckled, pushing himself off the wall. “You thought I was with the Foot? How amusing.”

As much as he hated to admit it, Raph was terrified. Leo was still standing in shadows, not allowing them to see him fully. The way he was standing, the way he talked, how he watched them. It was almost, hostile. Like he didn’t trust them.

Maybe Leo had read his thoughts, or had sensed how uneasy they were becoming. Either way, he slowly stepped forward into the light of a nearby street lamp. Under the light, Raph could see this clearly wasn’t the Leo they knew.

This Leo carried only one katana, the other scabbard empty on his shell. His mask, wrist and leg wraps had all been replaced with black fabric, the same used to make the Foot uniforms. Another hilt of a sword showed on his new black belt, but Raph couldn’t spot anything that actually showed there was a blade attached. It may not have been much of a change, but to Raph, Leo might as well have covered himself in pink paint and glitter.

“What the shell Leo? What’s with the getup?” Raph had stepped forward, yet he was unsure if he was trying to get closer to Leo, or put himself between Leo and his younger brothers.

Leo remained silent, his gaze slowly moving between each of them. This silence seemed to drag on for hours before Raph’s impatience caught up with him. “Okay that’s it! Come on Leo, let’s go home!”

He went to grab Leo’s arm, yet soon found the tip of Leo’s katana resting under his chin. Pasting the pounding of his own heartbeat, Raph could hear the surprised gasps behind him of Mikey and Donnie. “I’m not going with you. From now on I’m going my separate way and if any of you try to stop me, I won’t have a problem ending you. That clear?”

Raph could only dumbly nod as Leo slowly backed away, still keeping his katana pointing at them. “And just so you know, Leonardo is gone. It’s Nero now.” When none of them moved, Leo turned and ran out onto the street, making it to another building and easily climbing into the roof. As soon as Leo was out of sight, Raph sprinted after him, glad that is was still night and too dark for them to be spotted by humans.

“Raph!” Both Mikey and Donnie soon followed close behind him, but once Raph reached the roof Leo was nowhere in sight.

Raph sighed as he turned to the others, “He really is gone…” He muttered. “And it is my fault.”


	2. When Trust Shatters Like a Mirror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so something I forgot to say at the end of the chapter. If you’ve seen the video this is based on, you’ll notice Leo actually changes his name to Midnight, not Nero. Now the reason I put it as Nero is because I’ve read quite a few fanfics where one of the turtles changes his name to Midnight when he goes solo so… I kinda wanted this to be slightly unique. Anyway… On with the story!
> 
> Disclaimer: It’s kinda sad to think I don’t even own most of the plot of this story, let alone the turtles…

Coming back to the lair to tell Splinter they had failed to save Leo was one thing, but coming back and telling him that Leo had turned on them was a whole other problem. Something they really didn’t know how to handle.

“Dudes, how do you think sensei is gonna take this?” Mikey asked, clearly nervous as they walked through the sewers.

Donnie placed a reassuring hand on Mikey’s shoulder. “Hopefully not too badly. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s anything we could have done. We got to Leo as fast as we could, and no one was hurt.” Donnie knew he sounded like he didn’t really care about Leo by saying that, but what else was he meant to say? It’s not every day your oldest brother gets captured then turns against you.

Clearly, Raph took his words the wrong way. “No one was hurt?” He snapped, glaring over his shoulder as he walked in front of them. “Leo was obviously hurt! Maybe not physically but somethings really gotta be wrong with his head for him to do something like this!” Raph growled. “And we could have done something, we could have fought better, could of stopped Leo from falling and getting captured! Maybe if we’d listened to him for once, none of this would have happened!” By now, Raph was fuming and he then took off down the tunnel at a faster pace, leaving Donnie and Mikey to try to get over Raph’s outburst.

 After a short time walking in silence, Mikey spoke up in that quiet guilty voice of his. “You know… Raph’s right…”

“About what?” Donnie glanced at his only younger brother, instantly feeling bad once he saw the sad expression on Mikey’s face and how he was watching his feet as they walked.

“About listening to Leo. What if we’re part of the reason why he did this?... Maybe he doesn’t like us anymore.” The last few words came out as a sob and Donnie placed an arm around Mikey. 

Donnie slowly shook his head, “Let’s not jump to any conclusions Mikey… For all we know, this is all Karai’s doing. Let’s just get back to the lair, maybe sensei has some ideas.” Mikey nodded, letting Donnie pull him closer as they walked. “It’ll be okay Mikey, sensei always knows what to do…”

* * *

 

When they both approached the lair, they found Raph waiting for them. “I may not be the happiest turtle in the world, but I ain’t explaining what happened to sensei alone.” He muttered before they could even ask the question, then turned and walked into the lair with Donnie and Mikey close behind him.

Splinter was waiting for them, and he looked happy as he approached them until his smile dropped. Donnie knew exactly why. “Where is Leonardo?” Splinter asked, frowning. The three of them glanced at each other, a silent battle of who would break the news to Splinter. Splinter sighed. “Raphael, what has happened to your brother?”

 Raph sent both of his younger brothers a glare when Splinter asked him, then sighed. “He’s gone, sensei…”

Splinter stiffened and Donnie quickly jumped in when he realised what Splinter must have thought Raph meant. “Not dead. Something happened to him while Karai had him captured, he escaped on his own.” Donnie could feel everyone’s eyes on him and realised that he’d just nominated himself to tell Splinter about their confrontation with ‘Nero’. “We caught up with him but… He- he wasn’t Leo anymore, sensei… He calls himself Nero now and said he’s going solo now. We think Karai might have done something to his mind to have turned him against us.”

At his explanation, Splinter relaxed slightly. “In that case, we must focus on bringing Leonardo home and figuring out what it is Karai has done to him. However this would explain why I cannot seem to sense him.” 

“What do you mean, sensei?” Mikey asked from where he was still clinging to Donnie like he had been doing for nearly the whole journey back through the sewers.

Splinter lay both his paws atop of his cane, “Normally through meditation, I can sense how close the four of you are and your general state of mind. However, shortly after when I presume Karai took Leonardo captive, he was cut off from me. I believe he has done this on purpose. Leonardo does not want to be found.”

Donnie thought for a few moments. Leo definitely wasn’t acting like himself, and what Splinter was saying only backed up the theory that it was something Karai did to him. “Sensei, wouldn’t it take a general amount of focus for Leo to block himself from you?”

“Yes, it would. Why do you ask?” Splinter replied.

“It’s just… Leo is probably the most focused out of the four of us, but even he can lose focus and he needs to sleep too. Wouldn’t you be able to sense him during these times?” It was more of a guess to Donnie, but it also made sense to him.

“It is possible… However that will take time. While I am trying to locate Leonardo, I’m sure you three will be working on your own way to track him down. You might have a way, Donatello?”

“Hai sensei.” Donnie smiled as Splinter walked towards his room, no doubt planning to meditate for a few hours in hopes that Leo’s concentration would falter during that time. Well, Nero’s… That was going to become confusing very quickly. Donnie then pulled out his Tphone, although he wasn’t surprised when he found the tracker in Leo’s phone had been disabled. Although there was something else that surprised him. “Huh… That’s weird.” He muttered to himself, but it instantly caught Mikey and Raph’s attention.

“What is it, D?” Mikey asked, peering over his shoulder at his Tphone.

Donnie frowned down at the screen. “It’s just, if Leo really wanted to cut us off from him, he’d have destroyed his Tphone. Instead, he just disabled the tracker.”

“Why don’t you try calling him?” Raph suggested, although Donnie guessed he was being sarcastic. Either way, it was worth a shot.

Donnie put the Tphone on speaker the moment he hit the call button, yet the only noise that came from the phone was a serious of beeps before the call ended. “He blocked our numbers. This is really confusing me now. 

Raph rolled his eyes, heading towards his room. “What does it matter Donnie? Leo obviously doesn’t want anything to do with us, so is it really surprising he blocked us and the tracker?” Raph then slammed his door before Donnie could answer him.

* * *

 

Nero leapt another gap between two buildings, landing easily with room to spare before he continued running. How long had it been since he ran from those he used to call brothers? An hour, maybe two at the most. It didn’t matter though, he continued to put distance between him and them.

He probably would have run for another hour more if he hadn’t heard a voice that was becoming much too familiar. “The ones known as the turtles have not been spotted in the place that is this place that is the place they should not be spotted. Kraang can continue experiments on humans without the ones known as the turtles interrupting the experiments that Kraang are doing on the humans.” Nero stopped on a ledge, noticing that he’d reached the section of the city filled with mostly warehouses, one of which these Kraang were using.

Looking down, Nero easily spotted the Kraang he’d heard talking, who was standing with another three Kraang on guard. There seemed to only be one door into the warehouse, not even any windows. _Smart. Less ways for someone to sneak it._

Right now, he wasn’t really up for much of a fight, although that quickly changed. Nero narrowed his eyes as a white van pulled up outside the warehouse, two Kraang exiting the front then opening the back doors. They then pulled out a man, his hands bound behind his back and head covered in one of those black hoods that everyone seemed to use when they kidnapped someone. Seriously, that was getting old. 

As much as he didn’t feel like dealing with the Kraang right now, he couldn’t exactly walk away either, not when it wasn’t just his own life at stake. Sighing, Nero glanced around at the surrounding rooftops. Happy there were no humanoid turtle figures running towards him, he drew his katana then turned and leapt from the building towards the warehouse.

* * *

 

Raph shoved aside the manhole cover. What was the point of searching for Leo right now? They only had a few hours of night left and with their decision to stick together they couldn’t exactly search much of the city. Plus this was Leo they were trying to track down, a ninja who didn’t want to be found. Normally, if a ninja was trying to stay hidden, you weren’t gonna find them.

Once Donnie and Mikey had climbed out the manhole, Raph replaced the cover then leapt for the nearest fire escape with his younger brothers close behind. They’d decided (more like Donnie had decided) to start searching the outer areas of the city first, then work their way in towards the centre. If Leo had set up anywhere, it would be somewhere humans rarely went and it couldn’t be in the sewers if Leo didn’t want them to find him. It had to be somewhere above ground and probably abandoned. Those places were most common along the edges of the city.

Of course, most of the outer parts of the city were docks and warehouses, which wouldn’t be easy to search. Their main problem though, was if Leo saw them coming. He’d already proven he can pull a disappearing act without any trouble so if he saw them coming he could easily give them the slip. Then knowing Leo, he’d probably move if they’d gotten too close to where ever he’d set up. This really wasn’t going to be easy. 

“You really think we can find Ne- Leo?” Mikey asked, filling the silence that had been going on for the past few minutes since they’d left the sewers.

Raph glanced back over his shoulder. “Donnie was the one who said we could, this just seems stupid to me. I mean, how much of the city can we actually search in the few hours we have left before sunrise?”

Donnie sighed. “Some searching is better than none, Raph…”

“Yeah, and it’s also a big waste of time. The chances of us finding Leo in the whole of the city is practically none.” Raph growled.

Of course, Donnie had to be scientific about it. “Actually, our odds of finding Leo tonight are closer to one in twenty-nine thousand, one hundred and…” Donnie trailed off as Raph shot him a glare. “Never mind." 

Raph only rolled his eyes. “Let’s just get this over with.”

They spent the next hour or so searching the docks and a few warehouses on the edge of the city, but there wasn’t any hint that Leo had even been there, let alone trying to set up some kind of base there.

“Well this is hopeless!” Raph muttered as they climbed onto the roof of another warehouse. “It’s obvious Leo ain’t around here.” He huffed as he then sat on the roof, twirling a sai in one hand. It made him wonder why they were even bothering. Leo seemed to make it pretty clear he didn’t want to come back, so what where the odds they could talk him into it… Everyone’s argument to that was because he was their brother. Raph wanted Leo back just as much as Donnie and Mikey did, if not even more but chasing down Leo like this and trying to talk him into coming back didn’t feel right.

“Hang on, do you two hear that?” Donnie asked, pulling Raph out of his thoughts. They all fell silent until the faint noise of those Kraang guns reached their ears. Away from the main lights of the city, they could see the pink lights reflecting off a warehouse nearby whenever a gun was fired. Obviously the Kraang were having a small problem with someone. “It must be Leo.”

“What makes you think that, D? The Kraang would probably fire at most people and mutants.” Mikey was watching the lights then jumped when they heard the squealing of a Kraang, most likely forced out of a disabled suit.

Donnie made his way to the edge of the warehouse roof. “Well how many do you know that can take out at least a few Kraang solo?” He pointed in the direction of the lights. “From how many shots were going off when we first noticed, I’d say there had been at least four Kraang, now maybe two are left? And they’re being taken down one by one, so it’s likely they only have one pretty good opponent.”

“Then let’s go.” Raph said as he drew his sais, “Even if it ain’t Leo, at least we get to kick some Kraang tonight.”

While they may have expected Leo, it didn’t lessen the shock of actually seeing him. When they’d last saw Leo, he’d been dressed in black and that hadn’t changed. That made Raph wonder what he had expected. Had he been secretly hoping that when they found Leo he’d have changed back to his normal gear? That he’d come over to them like nothing happened and they could all head back home? He was really starting to think too much…

Leo may have changed his attitude, but his fighting techniques were no different. His moves were swift and flowing easily from one to another, as accurate with one katana as he had been with two. As Leo moved amongst the Kraang, Raph couldn’t help but smile. Each of his attacks were meant to be fatal, leaving no question that he hadn’t wanted to get into this fight so he was simply trying to clear it up as fast as possible. Leo certainly wasn’t going to let any of these Kraang go. Well, they’d always let the Kraang go once their suites was deactivated, they weren’t a threat then and they didn’t need to kill them. That’s what Raph thought anyway. He turned back to Donnie and Mikey. “Come on, let’s help him clear out this place.”

Just as he was about to turn to jump down, Donnie’s eyes widened. Mikey’s face was one more of horror. “Raph, wait!” Then they heard the scream.

It was almost identical to the one they heard earlier, which they had thought was a Kraang leaving its suit and fleeing. But now they realised it was more than that. Raph slowly turned around, met with a sight he hoped to never see. Leo had driven his katana right through a Kraang, not the suit but the Kraang itself. It continued to scream as Leo pulled his katana out then kicked it over, the suit collapsing backwards and the screaming slowly dying down. All three of them knew Leo didn’t have to do that, but he’d done it anyway. 

After witnessing that, Raph wasn’t so keen to join the fight, remembering when they’d found Leo the first time and their older brother had no problem holding a sword to his throat. Whatever had happened to Leo’s head, it was bad. Real bad.

* * *

 

Nero easily flicked the blood off his blade. What colour was it anyway? Looked to be a bluish-green. What did it matter, aliens were aliens. With four down and two left to go, he was starting to get bored. Seriously, these Kraang were hardly a challenge.

One came up behind him and Nero propelled himself backwards so that he flipped over the Kraang’s head, using its shoulder for leverage. He landed lightly on his feet behind it and drove his katana forward, smiling to himself when it cut through nothing but air. This one was fast.

The Kraang weren’t exactly the best at close combat, but this one seemed to be an exception. With the chainsaw end of its gun, it came at him again. As the blade swung for his neck, Nero easily jumped backwards onto his hands to avoid it then continued in the motion to land back on his feet a small distance away. By now, the other Kraang had decided to continue shooting at him.

As the Kraang with the blade swung for him again, Nero ducked under its arm then leapt for the one with the gun, satisfied when his feet landed on its chest and his katana sank into the pink alien body. He straightened once the lifeless suit hit the ground, pulling out his katana and turning to face the final Kraang. This one was actually fun.

When it came at him again, he met it face on and their blades clashed. Nero clenched his jaw, struggling against the force this Kraang was applying. That was the annoying thing, they were robots and no matter how much he trained he was very unlikely to be able to beat them in terms of strength. But he did have a chance of winning through cunning.

Nero pushed his katana over his own left shoulder, taking the Kraang’s weapon with it. He turned at the same time, so the Kraang’s arms slid over his carapace. Now its midsection was vulnerable. In one smooth move, Nero brought his katana right around and sliced through the middle of the Kraang, stepping back to avoid any blood.

Throughout the fight, the Kraangs’ human hostage hadn’t moved and as Nero approached him, he flinched. Without a word, Nero hit him with the hilt of his katana, knocking the man out. He then moved the man to a sheltered area between two warehouses nearby and untied him. The man could remove the sack on his head himself once he woke up.

As Nero turned to leave, he heard a soft noise from the roof of one of the warehouses. Freezing, he stopped to listen. Again he heard it, soft footsteps that wouldn’t be audible to just anyone. Keeping his katana drawn, Nero leapt up onto the warehouse, only half surprised when he found himself face to face with Michelangelo.

* * *

 

When Nero, no Leo… His name was Leo, leapt up onto the roof Mikey probably let out one of his most girly screams ever which only alerted Raph and Donnie who were still looking down at the dead Kraang. “Leo! Don’t do that bro, you scared the life out of me.”

Leo scowled, returning his katana to its scabbard. “I already told you that’s not my name.”

Raph snorted, pushing himself in front of Mikey to face their older brother. “Quit fooling around Leo, you’ve had your fun, now come home with us.” Raph turned to leave and Mikey actually thought Leo might do just that until he spoke again, saying something that made them all freeze.

“Raphael.” Leo very rarely used their full names, and when he did, it was never good. “I made myself perfectly clear, I don’t want anything to do with you. Or anyone for that matter.” This time Leo turned to leave, in the complete opposite direction of the lair to prove his point.

Before either Mikey or Raph could say anything, Donnie surprised them both. “Nero, wait.” Mikey could see Raph tense when Donnie used Leo’s new name. Leo looked just as shocked. “Why did you keep the Tphone?”

Mikey watched as Leo looked down at his belt, pulling out the small device and examining it for a few moment. He then sighed, glancing back up at them. “Because I still have to look out for some people…” Leo muttered, then turned and disappeared off the side of the warehouse. This time, none of them bothered to try to chase him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you all think? I kept to my kinda promise about trying to make each chapter at least 3,000 words ^.^ I also have a plan now. I simply write 500 words a day, enough to get a chapter finished in a week, but not enough for me to get bored and loose interest!  
> WARNING! SPOILERS FOR TMNT 2012 S4 Ep 5!  
> Who else found the moment between Leo and Raph when Leo said “I love you, Bro” completely adorable? I swear I cried! Oh… Just me who did that?... Yeah… It as emotional! And professor Honeycutt with his smacking hand XD I laughed so much after that scene…  
> SPOILER END  
> Anyway… Thanks for reading! And expect the next chapter in hopefully a week or so! ^.^


	3. Quick update!

Hi all!

So sorry this isn't a chapter but I need to get this out. I've now got a blog on tumblr completely for all my fanfic on here! You'll be able to see when the next chapter is coming out, get previews of more stories and ask me anything you like! Messages and asks make me the happiest person alive ^.^

Link: http://dtvfanficblog.tumblr.com

See ya all there!

Dawn.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this was worth it O.o 10 pages on a word document… Just wow… Well there you have it! Chapter 1 of Into The Abyss! Now I have a question for you all.  
> Now my previous story (Tick-Tock) ended with a semi-cliffhanger I guess, and I do have a sequel planned. Now either I can continue this story and start writing Tick-Tock’s sequel after I finish this one (probably about 6 months time). Or I could pause this one, write the sequel then continue this one (3-9 months time) Orrrrr I could do both at the same time, but I’d only be updating each maybe once a month? As I’m planning on the chapters to be pretty big, like 3,000+ words each. So, what would everyone prefer?  
> Also thanks for reading!


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